Word line leakage has become a big problem for memory chips such as a NAND flash memory, as miniaturization has proceeded in a fabrication process and memory capacity has become larger. For this reason, a word-line leakage detection circuit is provided within a memory chip. There is a technique in which a leakage current detected by a word-line leakage detection circuit is compared with a predetermined threshold value and it is determined to be a leakage fault when the leakage current exceeds the predetermined threshold value.
A leakage current flowing through a word line varies depending on an ambient temperature. For example, in general, as an ambient temperature rises, a leakage current becomes larger. Therefore, when an ambient temperature rises, even a chip that is not defective may be erroneously determined to be defective.